No, I didn’t just ride around the dining room, although it would be quite fun to create a course around the house. Hmm… no, no. I’ll just stick to the usual methods.

Although I didn’t go anywhere, technically I did ride my bike and it was the weekend. So I think this counts. When I started this series, I didn’t mention that it had to be outside. Mind you, having said that, it is definitely more interesting.

Recently I mentioned that we’ve played musical furniture and we’ve made space in our dining room in order to set up our bikes so we have somewhere to ride them indoors.

I usually get bored pretty quickly of cycling indoors. Let’s face it, there isn’t much to see or do, at least when you’re out and about you can enjoy the sights and smells of where ever you are. Still, I appear to be motivated to increase my mileage for this year and while the weather isn’t great, the rollers will have to do.

I set my music on my phone playing. Something with a good beat to keep me going. I have a pair of wireless earphones which I have to say are spectacular, fantastic sound and they still work when covered in sweat. One thing that is guaranteed, I will be sweating by the end of the workout. Plus it means that there is no wire hanging down which could potentially get caught in a wheel or around the handlebars.

Swinging my leg over the bike, and carefully clip into the pedal. Making sure my weight is distributed evenly so the bike doesn’t go flying when I try to sit on the saddle, I gently hoist myself up onto the bike. I lean against the wall so that I can relax onto the saddle and concentrate clipping my left foot into the remaining pedal. Slowly, I begin to push down on my left leg and begin to turn the pedals while still leaning on the wall for support.

A gentle push with my shoulder and I’m balancing precariously on two wheels on a rolling road. As usual, the bike wriggles underneath me as I start to build up speed and gain some form of control. The next task is to use my Garmin to distract me. Something to focus on, I’ve already set myself a target of 10 miles.

One good thing about indoor cycling, the miles rack up quite quickly. No wind resistance, no hills and no traffic to worry about. Just me, the bike and my music. As usual, my mind starts to think about various stuff and I begin to put the world to rights in my head. It doesn’t take long for me to notice that I’ve already completed half of my target.

That is certainly a great motivator and makes me want to increase my speed to see how quickly I can do the rest of the miles. It Turns out, I can sit quite comfortably around 26-28 mph without too much hassle. I throw in a couple of sprints to see what speed I can push when trying, I was happy with 35 mph, especially on the Rollers.

For the last mile or so before I reach my target, I begin to ease off the pace. Always good to get a little bit of a cool down in. By now, sweat is dripping from my face and I’m extremely hot. 10 miles complete. I carefully slow to a stop, making sure to lean on the wall before falling off the wrong direction. Unclipping my feet from the pedal, I step down on to the floor and off the bike, also remembering to stop my Garmin.

A few more miles under the belt for the year. Definitely time for a shower.

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Published by Jack Akehurst

Hi, I'm passionate about all things cycling. I've become interested in writing and I've started this blog as a way to share my hobby, experiences and enjoyment that comes from riding two wheels.
View all posts by Jack Akehurst